Participatory monitoring and evaluation to enable social learning, adoption, and out-scaling of regenerative agriculture
The advanced state of land degradation worldwide urges the large-scale adoption of sustainable land management (SLM). Social learning is considered an important precondition for the adoption of innovative and contextualized SLM. Involving farmers and researchers in participatory monitoring and evalu...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Resilience Alliance
2021-12-01
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| Series: | Ecology and Society |
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| Online Access: | https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol26/iss4/art29/ |
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| author | Raquel Luján Soto Mamen Cuéllar Padilla María Rivera Méndez Teresa Pinto-Correia Carolina Boix-Fayos Joris de Vente |
| author_facet | Raquel Luján Soto Mamen Cuéllar Padilla María Rivera Méndez Teresa Pinto-Correia Carolina Boix-Fayos Joris de Vente |
| author_sort | Raquel Luján Soto |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The advanced state of land degradation worldwide urges the large-scale adoption of sustainable land management (SLM). Social learning is considered an important precondition for the adoption of innovative and contextualized SLM. Involving farmers and researchers in participatory monitoring and evaluation (PM&E) of innovative SLM such as regenerative agriculture is expected to enable social learning. Although there is a growing body of literature asserting the achievement of social learning through participatory processes, social learning has been loosely defined, sparsely assessed, and only partially covered when measured. Here, we assess how PM&E of regenerative agriculture, involving local farmers and researchers in southeast Spain, enabled social learning, effectively increasing knowledge exchange and shared understanding of regenerative agriculture effects among participating farmers. We measured whether social learning occurred by covering its social-cognitive (perceptions) and social-relational (social networks) dimensions, and discussed the potential of PM&E to foster SLM adoption and out-scaling. We used fuzzy cognitive mapping and social network analysis as graphical semiquantitative methods to assess changes in farmers' perceptions and shared fluxes of information on regenerative agriculture over approximately three years. Our results show that PM&E enabled social learning among participating farmers, who strengthened and enlarged their social networks for information sharing and presented a more complex and broader shared understanding of regenerative agriculture effects and benefits than pre PM&E. We argue that PM&E thereby creates crucial preconditions for SLM adoption and out-scaling. Our findings are relevant for the design of PM&E processes, living labs, and landscape restoration initiatives that aim to support farmers' adoption and out-scaling of innovative and contextualized SLM. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T04:16:03Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-fc457bd4a1a144de94119c2c9a198f7d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1708-3087 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T04:16:03Z |
| publishDate | 2021-12-01 |
| publisher | Resilience Alliance |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ecology and Society |
| spelling | doaj.art-fc457bd4a1a144de94119c2c9a198f7d2022-12-22T03:02:59ZengResilience AllianceEcology and Society1708-30872021-12-012642910.5751/ES-12796-26042912796Participatory monitoring and evaluation to enable social learning, adoption, and out-scaling of regenerative agricultureRaquel Luján Soto0Mamen Cuéllar Padilla1María Rivera Méndez2Teresa Pinto-Correia3Carolina Boix-Fayos4Joris de Vente5Agroecology, Food Sovereignty and Commons Research Team, University of CórdobaAgroecology, Food Sovereignty and Commons Research Team, University of CórdobaMED - Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development, University of ÉvoraMED - Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development, University of ÉvoraSoil and Water Conservation Research Group, Spanish Research Council (CEBAS-CSIC)Soil and Water Conservation Research Group, Spanish Research Council (CEBAS-CSIC)The advanced state of land degradation worldwide urges the large-scale adoption of sustainable land management (SLM). Social learning is considered an important precondition for the adoption of innovative and contextualized SLM. Involving farmers and researchers in participatory monitoring and evaluation (PM&E) of innovative SLM such as regenerative agriculture is expected to enable social learning. Although there is a growing body of literature asserting the achievement of social learning through participatory processes, social learning has been loosely defined, sparsely assessed, and only partially covered when measured. Here, we assess how PM&E of regenerative agriculture, involving local farmers and researchers in southeast Spain, enabled social learning, effectively increasing knowledge exchange and shared understanding of regenerative agriculture effects among participating farmers. We measured whether social learning occurred by covering its social-cognitive (perceptions) and social-relational (social networks) dimensions, and discussed the potential of PM&E to foster SLM adoption and out-scaling. We used fuzzy cognitive mapping and social network analysis as graphical semiquantitative methods to assess changes in farmers' perceptions and shared fluxes of information on regenerative agriculture over approximately three years. Our results show that PM&E enabled social learning among participating farmers, who strengthened and enlarged their social networks for information sharing and presented a more complex and broader shared understanding of regenerative agriculture effects and benefits than pre PM&E. We argue that PM&E thereby creates crucial preconditions for SLM adoption and out-scaling. Our findings are relevant for the design of PM&E processes, living labs, and landscape restoration initiatives that aim to support farmers' adoption and out-scaling of innovative and contextualized SLM.https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol26/iss4/art29/fuzzy cognitive mappingliving labsnatural resource managementperceptionssocial networkssustainable land management |
| spellingShingle | Raquel Luján Soto Mamen Cuéllar Padilla María Rivera Méndez Teresa Pinto-Correia Carolina Boix-Fayos Joris de Vente Participatory monitoring and evaluation to enable social learning, adoption, and out-scaling of regenerative agriculture Ecology and Society fuzzy cognitive mapping living labs natural resource management perceptions social networks sustainable land management |
| title | Participatory monitoring and evaluation to enable social learning, adoption, and out-scaling of regenerative agriculture |
| title_full | Participatory monitoring and evaluation to enable social learning, adoption, and out-scaling of regenerative agriculture |
| title_fullStr | Participatory monitoring and evaluation to enable social learning, adoption, and out-scaling of regenerative agriculture |
| title_full_unstemmed | Participatory monitoring and evaluation to enable social learning, adoption, and out-scaling of regenerative agriculture |
| title_short | Participatory monitoring and evaluation to enable social learning, adoption, and out-scaling of regenerative agriculture |
| title_sort | participatory monitoring and evaluation to enable social learning adoption and out scaling of regenerative agriculture |
| topic | fuzzy cognitive mapping living labs natural resource management perceptions social networks sustainable land management |
| url | https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol26/iss4/art29/ |
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